Monthly Archives: April 2012

It was a rather cold night at Wrigley Field on Tuesday — and the weather matched Paul Maholm’s start. In his Chicago Cubs debut, former Mississippi State star Maholm yielded five runs in the first inning and six all told in four innings of work. The left-hander, who signed as a free agent in the off-season after leaving Pittsburgh, took the L in a 7-4 defeat against Milwaukee. “To put it bluntly, I (stunk),” Maholm told mlb.com. Maholm had a good spring, but it wasn’t there for him Tuesday. Of his 80 pitches, only 45 were strikes. He gave up six hits and two walks for the 1-4 Cubs.
P.S. Props to former Mississippi Braves standout Tyler Pastornicky for hitting his first big league homer on Tuesday in Atlanta’s first win of the season. … Former Delta State star Eli Whiteside had a big double in his debut for Triple-A Fresno on Tuesday. Whiteside was beaten out by Hector Sanchez for the San Francisco Giants backup catcher job. He’s got work to do to get back to the majors. … MSU product Mitch Moreland hit his first homer of the year on Monday for Texas but went 0-for-3 Tuesday and is at .167 for the season. He may find playing time harder and harder to come by. … Millsaps whipped Mississippi College 10-9 on Tuesday to move to 3-2 in Maloney Trophy Series play. The Majors, who’ve won seven straight, face Belhaven (2-2 Maloney) next Tuesday at Smith-Wills Stadium with the trophy on the line. BU and MC (2-3 Maloney) play at Smith-Wills on April 23. … Southern Miss can make a statement tonight against LSU in Metairie, La. The Golden Eagles (19-12) are 11-36 all-time against the perennially strong Tigers (25-7), who are ranked No. 7 in one poll.

The test is yet to come for Andrelton Simmons. The prized prospect had two hits in his Mississippi Braves debut on Monday night, which is great. But it’ll take a few weeks, if not longer, to truly gauge his bat at the Double-A level. The Curacao native, 22, answered some questions about his hitting ability last season, when he batted .311 at Class A Lynchburg. Double-A pitching, of course, is a cut above that level; he’ll see major league-caliber arms fairly often. Simmons, drafted in the second round out of an Oklahoma junior college in 2010, can throw 98 mph, which is why Atlanta initially wanted to develop him as a pitcher. But he convinced the Braves to let him play shortstop. He has great range and the big arm, and everyone seemingly was impressed in big league camp as he battled former M-Brave Tyler Pastornicky for the starting shortstop job. Simmons’ bat cooled after a hot start, and then he was shelved with a minor injury near the end of spring. Pastornicky went to The Show, and Simmons came to Mississippi. He is listed at 6 feet 2, 170 pounds, but he has some power, having rapped 35 doubles in A-ball last summer. He can run a little, too. “He has no fear,” his former Lynchburg manager, Luis Salazar, has said of Simmons. That’s one of the main qualities needed for success in Double-A. We shall see if he has the others.

Andrelton Simmons, the Atlanta Braves shortstop prospect who took spring training by storm, made his Mississippi Braves debut tonight. Simmons got a hit in his first Double-A at-bat, facing Mobile at Trustmark Park. Simmons hit .311 with 35 doubles, 52 RBIs and 26 stolen bases at Class A Lynchburg in 2011. And he’s said to be big-league ready with the glove. He should be worth the price of admission at the TeePee, where the M-Braves were off to an 0-4 start.

No team in the state is hotter than Millsaps, which is 21-10 overall, 7-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and has produced the conference’s top hitter two weeks running. Wes Perkins earned the honor today after going 8-for-17 with three doubles, a home run and 12 RBIs in a 4-0 week (that included coach Jim Page’s 600th career victory). Perkins follows Ryan Zemke as the SCAC’s feted hitter. For the year, Perkins, a junior catcher, is batting .366 with four homers and 35 RBIs. He leads the club in homers and RBIs but trails Stephen Gates (.405) and Zemke (.384) among Majors regulars in average. The Majors are batting .324 as a team going into a Maloney Trophy game at Mississippi College on Tuesday night.
P.S. William Carey’s Kye Wilson earned pitcher of the week honors in the Southern States Athletic Conference after hurling a three-hit shutout at Belhaven on Saturday. Senior right-hander Wilson (5-2) helped the Crusaders clinch the SSAC series against the nationally ranked Blazers.

A few thoughts on the Mississippi Braves’ 2012 roster: First of all, no Andrelton Simmons or Joe Terdoslavich; maybe they’ll be added later. … Christian Bethancourt is a rising star at catcher. … Lefty Sean Gilmartin, Atlanta’s top draft pick in 2011 from Florida State, should fit nicely somewhere near the top of the rotation. … Zeke Spruill and Chris Masters won 10 games each between Class A Lynchburg and Mississippi in 2011. … Billy Bullock is a seasoned Double-A closer, having posted 11 saves for the M-Braves last season. … Former Princeton star David Hale is another pitcher of note. … Infielder Ian Gac, in A-ball with the Chicago White Sox last year at age 26, has hit 75 homers the past three seasons. Wonder how he’ll do at Trustmark Park, never a homer haven. … Second baseman Phil Gosselin was a star at Virginia in 2010 and is a prospect worth watching. … Outfielder Adam Milligan hit 12 homers with a .291 average at Lynchburg last summer, and outfielder Keenan Wiley stole 19 bases while hitting .285. … Catcher Matt Kennelly and center fielder Mycal Jones are the only returning position players.
P.S. Atlanta’s trade of J.J. Hoover makes it three former M-Braves who have moved on to other organizations in just the past couple weeks. Jairo Asencio (the former Luis Valdez) was traded, and Brandon Hicks was lost on waivers.

Belhaven and Emmanuel put on an award-worthy drama in three acts at Smith-Wills Stadium. Belhaven swept the Southern States Athletic Conference series, winning each game in its last at-bat. Jaime Bruno hit a walk-off grand slam on Friday night, and the Blazers scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th in both games of Saturday’s doubleheader. It was a big sweep for BU, now 29-12 and 13-8 in the SSAC. In Saturday’s opener, the Blazers saw ace closer Josh Clarke blow a save in the seventh but showed some remarkable spunk thereafter. Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th, the third extra frame, Clay Bonds squeezed home Tyler Wrinkle with the game-winner. BU fell behind 6-0 in the fourth inning of Game 2 and trailed 7-6 heading to the bottom of the 10th. But Wrinkle led off with a double, Dillon Berry singled and then errors by the visiting Lions enabled the Blazers to score the tying and winning runs. A little Smith-Wills magic must have been at work. BU is now 21-4 at home. … Delta State, in need of some magic, swept a pair on the road against NCAA Division II defending national champion West Florida. The Statesmen (19-8, 6-5 Gulf South Conference) got outstanding pitching from Aaron Newcomb and Colton Mitchell in the 8-1 and 8-2 sweep. Jonathan Andrews had the team’s first five-hit game of the 2012. DSU goes for the series sweep today at Pensacola, Fla. … Surging Millsaps swept a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference twinbill at Centre as Wes Perkins posted five hits and four RBIs on the day. The Majors have won seven of nine and stand 4-1 in the SCAC and 17-10 overall. … And there was some broom work done in Raymond on Saturday, as well, with Hinds Community College blowing away Mississippi Gulf Coast 6-0 and 17-5 in an MACJC South Division doubleheader.